Several economic personalities recently participated in a debate called "Economy and Inflation" during which some of the most important aspects of everyday life were presented, including price increases and Romanians’ capacity to bear them. Energy prices have had an important influence on inflation, and Romanians have difficulties in keeping up with the current prices, after two years of restrictions generated by the pandemic. Florin Andrei, an associate professor at the University of Economic Studies (ASE), has pointed out that over 75% of inflation is generated by energy, due to planning mistakes in the transition to green energy and the abrupt abandonment of non-renewable energy production.
On Monday, 20 February, the European Commission approved, under EU state aid rules, an amendment to the map based on which regional aid will be granted in Romania during the period 1 January 2022 - 31 December 2027, according to a press release issued by the European Commission. In order to further reduce regional disparities, the amendment to the regional aid map for Romania, approved on Monday, provides for higher aid for vulnerable territories. As a result, the maximum amount of aid will increase as follows: from 40% to 50% of eligible investment costs for parts of the Center and West regions and also from 60% to 70% of eligible investment costs for parts of the South-East, South-Muntenia and South-West Oltenia regions.
Consumer confidence in the euro area economy has grown to its highest level of the past year, which is a sign of resilience and rising hopes in a region that could avoid recession in 2023. According to flash data released by the European Commission, the index of consumer confidence in the euro area economy reached minus 19 points in January, from minus 20.7 points in the previous month, in line with expectations of economists surveyed by Bloomberg. In the EU, the index climbed 1.5 points, to minus 20.6 points in February.
OTP Bank, the Romanian subsidiary of the largest banking group in Hungary, has announced that it will continue in 2023 the partnership concluded within the program aimed at supporting small and medium-sized enterprises - SME Invest PLUS, through which SMEs, including those with medium market capitalization and start-ups, as well as those in agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture and food sector, will be able to secure the liquidity necessary for their day-to-day operations or for investments. The maximum value of granted loans can be up to RON 10 million for investments.
Alpha Bank Romania has announced that it will continue to grant housing loans through the New Home program in 2023 as well and offers, for this purpose, the loan "Alpha Housing New Home" with an interest rate of 2% plus IRCC, the benchmark index for consumer loans, and zero file analysis fee. Given the 5.71% IRCC level applicable for the first quarter of 2023, the interest rate on New Home mortgage loans offered by Alpha Bank would be 7.71%.
tbi bank and Regina Maria private healthcare network offer a one-year subscription to those who pay for a treatment plan in fixed instalments through a financing plan offered by the bank. The offer is available during the period 16 January-28 February for a purchase value of more than RON 5,000. tbi financing solutions can be used for any major healthcare purchase: new hearing aid, dental treatment, giving birth at a specific clinic or surgery.
BT Mic financed more than 1,000 small businesses in four months through the InvestEU program, mediated by the European Investment Fund (EIF). For start-up entrepreneurs, the partnership, announced in 2022, means funding opportunities with European guarantee. BT Mic is the first institution in Romania to have signed a new collaboration with the EIF under InvestEU.
Cluj-Napoca City Hall has launched the tender for works on the park and ride from Avram Iancu international airport, an investment estimated at nearly RON 63 million (EUR 12.8 million). The investment targets the installation of a parking platform in the airport area, with a total of 863 parking spaces (37 for people with disabilities, 30 parking spaces for electric and hybrid vehicles, 788 parking spaces for cars and 8 bus shelters), car and pedestrian access routes, as well as a bike sharing station.
Cluj County Council has invested over RON 82 million (EUR 16.7 million) from its own sources in the past ten years for water supply and sewerage projects in 35 localities in Cluj. The main investment works carried out and approved during this period targeted the establishment of new networks and the extension of water pipes on a total of 215 kilometers. Moreover, sewerage works were also carried out on more than 25 kilometers. 36 new drinking water and wastewater pumping stations were built for half of the implemented projects.
Construction works on renewable energy and hydrogen production and storage units, plus the building of infrastructure elements needed to connect them to the grid, may be authorized even without urban and regional planning documents, according to a draft law adopted by the Senate. The normative act, previously presented by Profit.ro, amends the Law on land-use planning and urban development, as well as the Law on construction works authorization, and will now be sent to MPs for debate and a final vote.
The National Integrity Agency (ANI) has criticized several amendments to Law 176/2010, which, from its point of view, seek to exclude certain categories of persons from the obligation to publish their wealth statements and to introduce separate procedures for submitting statements, as well as separate evaluation methods. ANI has thus indicated that the statements submitted by these categories will no longer be public, will not be sent to the Agency, and integrity inspectors will only be able to consult them with approval, at the headquarters of the institutions where the persons in question are employed.
The draft law on the tax regime for digital nomads has received a favourable report from the Budget-Finance Committee. Liberal (PNL) MP Maria Gabriela Horga, vice-chair of the aforementioned Committee, has stated that the legislative initiative clarifies the tax regime for digital nomads in order to avoid their double taxation. She has also indicated that by having as many digital nomads as possible in Romania, the country will benefit from more financial resources brought directly into economy and Romania has the potential to take advantage of this phenomenon, i.e. it can be attractive for tourism, but also has good internet connection speeds.
Consumers are keen to pick sustainable food products even if they cost more, but are deterred by a lack of trust in the labels meant to mark food as green, according to a leading European Commission official for justice and consumers. Food labelling has become a hot topic in recent months, ahead of a contentious Commission proposal on front-of-pack food labelling, expected this spring. The EU executive is also expected to table plans for a "substantiating green claims initiative" in March, which is set to impose penalties on companies making unsubstantiated environmental claims about their products, according to a draft seen by EURACTIV. Such legislative initiatives are key to creating trust among consumers and encouraging them to choose more sustainable food products even if this means spending more, Nils Behrndt, Deputy Director-General at the Commission’s justice and consumers department, said.
The National Council of SMEs in Romania (CNIPMMR) has indicated that wages must be increased at national level in a responsible and gradual way, as stated in the corresponding European Directive. CNIPMMR has recalled that the explanatory statement of the Directive on adequate minimum wages in the European Union states that firms, in particular SMEs, would also benefit from more gradual and predictable increases in the minimum wage, which would improve the business environment.
The number of vacant jobs was 41,900 in Q4/2022, down by 3,400 against the previous quarter, according to data published by the National Institute of Statistics on Monday, 20 February. In Q4 of 2022, the highest job vacancy rates were recorded in public administration (1.61%), entertainment, cultural and recreational activities (1.46%), transport and storage (1.44%), and water distribution; sanitation, waste management, decontamination activities (1.41%).